1866 A meeting called by Charles Porterfield Krauth (1823–1883) for Lutherans who held to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession took place at Reading, Pennsylvania. Delegates from thirteen Lutheran synods were present. The meeting led to the formation of the General Council of the Lutheran Church in North America.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Porterfield_Krauth

1935 Lebensborn Project, a Nazi (literally: "Fount of Life") was an SS-initiated, state-supported, registered association in Nazi Germany with the goal of raising the birth rate of "Aryan" children via extramarital relations of persons classified as "racially pure and healthy" based on Nazi racial hygiene and health ideology. Lebensborn encouraged anonymous births by unmarried women, and mediated adoption of these children by likewise "racially pure and healthy" parents, particularly SS-members and their families. Founded by Heinrich Himmler.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensborn_project

Zhang Xueliang

1936 Xi'an Incident: The Generalissimo of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek, is kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang. Zhang Xueliang, occasionally called Peter Hsueh Liang Chang and nicknamed the "Young Marshal" (少帥), was the effective ruler of northeast China and much of northern China after the assassination of his father, Zhang Zuolin, by the Japanese on 4 June 1928. As an instigator of the Xi'an Incident, he spent over fifty years under house arrest and is regarded by the People's Republic of China as a patriotic hero.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi%27an_Incident

USS Panay sinking after Japanese air attack. Nanking, China. 12 December 1937.

1745 John Jay, American statesman, Patriot, diplomat, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, signer of the Treaty of Paris, and first Chief Justice of the United States (1789–95). (d. 1829)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jay

1786 William L. Marcy, American statesman, who served as U.S. Senator, Governor of New York, U.S. Secretary of War and 21st U.S. Secretary of State. In the latter office (1853–1857) under President Franklin Pierce, he resolved a dispute about the status of U.S. immigrants abroad and negotiated the last major acquisition of land for the continental United States (Gadsden Purchase). He also directed U.S. diplomats to dress in the plain style of an ordinary American rather than the court-dress many had adopted from Europe.(d. 1857)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Marcy

1805 William Lloyd Garrison, prominent American abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, which he founded with Isaac Knapp in 1831 and published in Massachusetts until slavery was abolished by Constitutional amendment after the American Civil War. He was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States. In the 1870s, Garrison became a prominent voice for the woman suffrage movement (d. 1879)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lloyd_Garrison

1805 Frederick Henry Hedge, New England clergyman and hymnist, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Unitarian minister and Transcendentalist. He was a founder of the Transcendental Club, originally called Hedge's Club, and active in the development of Transcendentalism. He was one of the foremost scholars of German literature in the United States. (d. 21 Aug 1890, Cambridge).en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Henry_Hedge

1806 Stand Watie, Cherokee-Confederate general, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded the Confederate Indian cavalry of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, made up mostly of Cherokee, Muskogee and Seminole, and was the final Confederate general in the field to cease hostilities at war's end. (d. 1871)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_Watie

1600 John Craig, Scottish reformer (b. ca. 1512). He joined the Dominican order, but through reading the Institutes of John Calvin he adopted Protestantism. Imprisoned at Rome for heresy, he escaped (1559) and went to Vienna, where he preached before Archduke Maximilian. Returning to Scotland in 1560, he shortly became the colleague of John Knox in Edinburgh. Chaplain to James VI after 1579, he was the author of the King's Confession (1581), on which was based the National Covenant of 1638.

1922 John Wanamaker, United States soul-winning merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure, considered by some to be the father of modern advertising and a "pioneer in marketing. On March 12, 1888, fifty year old John Wanamaker laboriously hand-copied letters to each member of his large Sunday School class--a Sunday school which he had founded. The central thought of the letter was, "If you are not saved my dear friend--flee to the merciful Savior, as you would fly, into this warm room tonight out of the cold streets & the drifting snow. -- If you are saved -- humbly trusting in what Jesus did when his loved failed not on the Cross -- think of others not saved -- NOT SAVED -- going to the eternal darkness -- your near friend, your relative -- and do something!"

All of his life, John Wanamaker did something--not only toward converting people but in making American business what it became. A Presbyterian, he was a strong advocate of the YMCA in the years when its chief concern was to convert men to Christ. He was so successful in promoting the organization that its backers named him national secretary. But John married and had to find work that would support his family. A go-getter (he took his first job as an errand boy at age thirteen for the salary of $1.25 a week) John and a partner bought a men's clothing business.

With a flair for big projects, John bought an abandoned rail depot and tried to coax other merchants to open shops in the building. When he couldn't persuade others to take the risk, he set up his own shops, creating one of the first successful department stores in the nation. His building even had a wireless telegraph--and consequently was the first station in the United States to learn of the sinking of the Titanic. John was a leader in advertising, in money-back guarantees and in offering his employees benefits such as pensions, life insurance, and vacations. His New York store was the first to display electric Christmas lights.

Through it all, John's concern for souls continued. During the Civil War, he was a strong supporter of the United States Civil Commission, an agency which brought medical and spiritual comfort to soldiers. He gave enormous sums to charities, such as the Children's Wing of Philadelphia's Presbyterian hospital. He devoted Sundays to religious work. "If you once have the joy and sweet pleasure of bringing one soul to Christ, you will be hungry to get another," he said.

Asked in an interview how he managed to carry the load of his many tasks (which, in addition to everything else, included a strong commitment to Masonry), John replied, "When I weary of one detail, I turn to another, and there is rest of mind in that." He advised, "Do the very best you can and leave the rest to Providence."

MILDRED BAILEY - Thanks for the Memory (1938)www.youtube.com/watch?v=qphrZd2JhP41951 Mildred Bailey (born Mildred Rinker; February 27, 1903 – December 12, 1951) popular and influential Native American jazz singer during the 1930s, known as "The Queen of Swing", "The Rockin' Chair Lady" and "Mrs. Swing". Some of her best-known hits are "It's So Peaceful in the Country", "Trust in Me", "Where Are You?", "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart", "Small Fry", "Please Be Kind", "Darn That Dream", "Rockin' Chair", "Blame It on My Last Affair", and "Says My Heart". She had three singles that made number one on the popular charts.

She grew up on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in Idaho, where her mother was an enrolled member. The family moved to Spokane, Washington when she was 13. Her younger brothers also became musicians, with her brother Al Rinker starting to perform as a singer with Bing Crosby in Spokane and eventually becoming famous as a member of The Rhythm Boys. Charles Rinker became a lyricist, and Miles Rinker was a clarinet and saxophone player who later became a booking agent.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Bailey

1967 Mac Raboy, American cartoonist (b. 1914)

1968 Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)

1971 David Sarnoff, Russian-American businessman (RCA) (b. 1891)

1973 Gustaf Axel Aho, hymn translator and president of the Finnish American Evangelical Lutheran National Church, (b. 9 Oct 1897).

Saint Agatha, nun at Wimborne in Dorset in England and a disciple of St Lioba, she went to Germany to help St Boniface in his missionary work (c. 790)

Post-Schism Orthodox Saints

Saint John, Metropolitan of Zichon, founder of the Monastery of the Forerunner on Mt. Menikion (north-east of Serres) (1333)

Venerable Therapontus, Abbot of Monza (1597)

Venerable Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of Alaska (1836) (see also December 13 - repose; and August 9 - feast day)

Other commemorations

Synaxis of the First Martyrs of the American land: Hieromartyr Juvenal the Protomartyr of America (1796), Peter the Aleut (c. 1815), and New Martyrs of Russia Anatole (Kamensky) of Irkutsk, Seraphim (Samoilovich) of Uglich, and priests John (Kochurov) of Chicago (1917) and Alexander (Khotovitsky) of New York (1937). (see also September 24 - Synaxis of All Saints of Alaska)

Repose of Flegont (Ostrovsky), Stylite of Kimlyai (Mordovia) (1870)

Feast of Masá'il ("Questions"), the first day of the 15th month of the Bahá'í calendar (Bahá'í Faith)